Dear Orihime Inoue Haters!
by AsunaKaori
Summary: The title says it all. FLAMES are WELCOMED!


**Dear Orihime Haters. All Flames are welcomed.**

C'mon people, just because a character's not a badass fighter doesn't mean they're useless. What I mean is her healing powers are very useful and she's more of a supportive character (helping people on the sidelines). Besides, she's just an ordinary human compared to Rukia who's had hundreds of years of fighting experience. If it weren't for her half the characters in Bleach would've been dead by now!

I mean she was even kind enough to heal Halibel and her fracciones! Do not even let me start how many times she had healed Rukia, Ichigo and everyone else. When nobody could heal Ichigo's wound that was inflicted by Grimmjow, Orihime healed them. What about the episode where Orihime sacrifices herself, knowing that Rukia is in every right capable of killing her, stood in the way and saved her from that Bount.

If Orihime would have died in the Manga, as many Orihime haters wish, who would heal everyone, who would be the weird and odd one in the group?

It's honestly no secret to any knowing Bleach fan that Orihime is easily the most detested character within the series— and while it's true that many claim to hate her so deeply in part because her love for a certain orange-haired shinigami substitute supposedly "gets in the way" of the fandom's most-popular pairing, the Bleach anime adaption certainly doesn't help to paint Orihime's character in a better light.

The most common "arguments" against Orihime I've seen/heard over the several years I've been following the manga tend to fall into the realm of "weak", "useless", "stupid", "over emotional", and more recently, "underdeveloped"— all of which I'll debunk with evidence from the manga to prove/support otherwise.

For a bit of backstory, Orihime's life begins as being born into an extremely violatile household— where her biological parents (as quoted by Sora Inoue, "our mother was a whore and our father, the devil") physically abused both she and her older brother. This continued throughout the first three years of her life, up until Sora turned eighteen and took his sister away to live on their own. To put it in perspective, Sora mentioned himself that he took Orihime away from that home because he thought she would die there if he did not, which certainly speaks to the degree of how badly she was beaten. In her life as a primary school student, Orihime would later be brutally bullied by her peers for her uncommon hair color— as it was seen as too flashy by her fellow students. This later lead to her classmates forcibly cutting her hair off, and Orihime later cutting it shorter to make it look better despite the immense pride she took in growing her hair long. It is implied that her classmates also physically brutalized her, made evident by the depiction of a young Orihime returning home wearing bandages.

When Orihime was about 12-13 years old, Sora Inoue was struck down by a car in what was implied to be a hit-and-run collision. The first to discover her brother (still alive at the time, but just barely) was Orihime herself. This particular event is something that should be important to note, as it's rarely focused on in fandom— but following the discovery of her brother's body, Orihime lifted him onto her back and carried him to the nearest place of medicine she could think of (coincidentally, this would turn out to be Kurosaki Clinic, home of the series' protagonist). Again, allow me to put this bit in perspective: a young girl (13) carried her adult brother (28) on her back whilst in the pouring rain, getting drenched in his blood, all in the effort to save his life. Tragic as it is, it's also a somewhat pertinent feat of physical strength to note, since we're dealing with a character who's chiefly hated due to her "weakness".

Fast forward to Orihime's fifteenth year; after the death of her brother about two years prior, she now lives alone in a small apartment and is supported financially by funds she receives from a distant aunt, provided she keeps her grades good. (This tidbit in itself should be enough evidence to contradict the claim that Orihime is "stupid", as she consistently retains the rank of the third highest-graded student in her grade. To put it in perspective, this is a difference of just two ranks between herself and Uryu Ishida.)

It is during this age that she is initially introduced into the story of Bleach. By her first appearance, one can easily gather that she appears to be a bit scatterbrained (a trait which is overly played up in the anime adaption to make Orihime appear truly stupid, and thus becoming the fandom's source to support their claim of her low intelligence despite it not being canon), earnest with a sense of humor, kind, easily-flustered, a bit strange, and harboring a small crush on Ichigo.

No sooner afterwards, during Ichigo's confrontation with Acidwire (a hollowfied Sora Inoue), we learn of the immense guilt Orihime bears in regards to her brother's death. The night prior to his accident, Sora gifted Orihime with a set of hairpins, to which she vehemently rejected as she thought they were too childish to wear at the time. It being the first fight the two had ever shared as siblings, they ate dinner that night without speaking to one another, and slept in their futons facing away from one another. The following morning, for the first time, Orihime did not wish her brother to "have a good day" before he left for work. Not being able to properly apologize to her brother for that day has burdened her with a great sense of guilt for the years following Sora's death— a guilt which she is relieved of as she wishes her brother to "have a good day" as his soul is purified by Ichigo's zanpakuto.

It was during the battle of Ichigo vs Acidwire that Orihime ended up being murdered by her brother (the chain of fate connecting her body and soul had not been severed, however, so she was able to be revived by Rukia's kidou), a grim fact that surely adds to the history of trauma already weighing Orihime down.

During this battle, a particularly interesting point to note is the way in which Orihime prevents Acidwire from attacking an (at the moment in time) defenseless Ichigo by using her body to intercept a near-deadly blow. This in itself easily illustrates that Orihime is self-sacrificing and courageous— especially so when the enemy in question was in fact her brother. If that isn't also a shining example of strength of character right off the bat, then I'm not quite certain what is.

Continuing throughout the series (up until the chapters before the two-year timeskip), Orihime does admittedly struggle with her own complex feelings of self-worth, a sense of inferiority in contrast to her companions, and a distinct sense of loneliness that later sets her character up for a disheartening method of coping with the horrors she would later endure as a prisoner in Hueco Mundo. However, by no means should any of the struggles she face signify her to be weak in character. True, Orihime is not particularly strong against the enemies she and her friends face (despite being strong for a human, she —like several of her friends and allies— aren't much of match for the shinigami and arrancar they face off against), but that's to be expected because she is a human. Where she is physically strong by human standards, Orihime is not a physical match in regards to strong opponents like the shinigami in the SS arc and the Arrancars in the HM arc. This is something many people within the Bleach fandom do not take into account when considering Orihime's strength, as the enemies the characters of Bleach face possess strength far greater than the limits any human should be able to attain. However, Orihime's lack of brute strength by no means translates to weakness.

In Bleach, Tite Kubo has made it exceedingly clear time and again that he considers the strength of one's character and heart to be held in equal (if not, then more) importance to physical and brute strength. This notion is easily supported by the recurring theme of "The Heart"— as having faith in the bonds you share with your comrades is where the ultimate strength lies. Orihime herself is a firm believer and practitioner in the strength of one's heart, and trusting in the abilities of her comrades. Prior to the timeskip, believing in her friends is almost all Orihime can do (aside from healing) to provide strength, as she is either asked to not include herself in the battle, or does not want to become burdensome to her friends by getting in the way of their success in battle.

She is extremely intuitive— able to easily read and understand the emotions of those she cares about (most notably, Ichigo Kurosaki). And thus, Orihime can tell quite easily when her friends are worried for her safety, or worried that her powers won't be strong enough to withstand the enemy's assault. There are several times where Orihime has worked up the resolve to participate in battle, but has been asked to remove herself due to her friends worrying for her safety. A big recurring theme early on in the Bleach series was the gradual development of trusting in one another's abilities; the lack of faith her companions (save Rukia & Chad) had in regards to her powers was justifiable to a certain degree, as she'd been thwarted in battle previously, and the desire to protect the most gentle of the group is ultimately what inhibited Orihime's growth as a character early on in the series. Before the timeskip, it is easily justifiable for a someone to say that they perceive Orihime to be an "undeveloped" or "underdeveloped" character, because in many ways she is at this point in time! Due to her own inhibitions brought on by the uncertainty of her companions, as well as being weighed down by the trauma of her past and rational emotions in regards to it, it makes sense that it would take Orihime a long while to not only grow as a character, but to arrive at a defining point in her life where she could declare herself as having grown.

The moment that turned the tides for Orihime's growth as a character was the infamous Lust Arc.

Prior to this specific turning point within the series, Orihime struggled immensely with making promises to grow stronger as an ally within battle, and actually keeping those promises to herself. Whether or not this is out of a lack of resolve, or the fact that her entire character had to be broken down to a point where she was not mentally nor psychologically coherent in that she quite literally went insane, is unclear— however with the references to the Lust Arc being made in the post-timeskip chapters, it's quite evident that this breaking point was exactly the plot device Orihime's character needed in order to begin an immense amount of development.

I mean this in the sense that due to Orihime having (perhaps too much) faith in her friends abilities, having gone through an extremely emotionally and psychologically trying ordeal thus far in the HM arc (no doubt the amount of physical abuse she endured at the hands of her numerous assailants became extremely triggering for her, as she's been beaten before as a child), having witnessed the murders/defeats of several of her friends (to which she could do nothing to help as she was locked away), and having come to face to face with the very bestial hollowfied Ichigo whom she'd been both afraid of and afraid for Ichigo's sake— she had been completely broken down as a character and reduced to a psychotic mess atop the Las Noches dome during The Lust Arc. The complete breaking of Orihime's character is also symbolic of both her personal/inner strength and determination as a character, as well as the beginning point of what would truly be her development into the person she'd always wanted to become. In terms of strength— think to the Fullbringer arc post-timeskip where Orihime is confronted by Riruka. Not only does she refuse to back down from Riruka's provocations, but it should be noted that there is a brief panel where Orihime recalls the vision of Ichigo's ruined corpse and the despair she felt when she found herself unable to do anything. As opposed to any other person in her situation at the time (a 15 year old with a history of abuse who has undergone an extremely triggering and emotionally/psychologically/physically draining ordeal, has been kidnapped, has been forced into powerlessness by the very people who are murdering her friends, etc), Orihime used what was [arguably] the weakest and lowest moment she'd ever experienced in her life to draw the strength and resolve she so severely lacked before. Because of her experience, she vowed to herself to never allow it to happen again, and realized that while having faith in her friends abilities is important, so too is having faith in both her own abilities and giving her friends a reason to allow her to stand beside them and fight in future battles to come. This in itself speaks volumes to the strength of her character— as I'm certain that any other person in that situation would have given up after enduring what she had. You can't honestly sit there and tell me it would have been easy to not only recover from The Lust/HM ordeal, but to channel that despair into a reason for strength— or that it was easy for Orihime to do so. She is strong in body and soul, period. (As a side note, there have always been complaints in regards to how often Orihime spoke "Kurosaki-kun" during the Lust Arc just before Ichigo had resurrected, so allow me to point out that in the original Japanese, Orihime's speaking lines were written as utterances of sounds and not actual words. Her mind had become so broken at the sight of Ichigo's mangled corpse, that Orihime could only string together sounds that didn't show any sense of coherency.)

That said, this also translates into how Orihime has developed as a character. It's admissible that prior to the timeskip, she had difficulty in keeping the promises she made to herself to grow stronger. One could argue this was due to both her overestimation of her friends' strength, as well as her friends refusing to allow her to join in battle (or, when allowing her into battle, her friends would compulsively protect her— not that it was a bad thing, but in a sense, it's a bit hard to deny that Orihime had been coddled by her friends for a long while which is likely due to their lack of faith in her powers; the only two to not do this were Rukia and Chad at the time). While I've seen some attempted arguments made that post-timeskip Orihime is still the "same, cheerful ditz she was before", allow me to say that that is inaccurate.

I'm not quite certain what the fanbase is expecting of Orihime, quite frankly. Simply because she has retained the cheerful personality she had during Bleach's beginning doesn't equate to a lack of character development— nor does having to endure a truly traumatizing and horrifying spectacle during her brief stay in Hueco Mundo automatically mean she recovers by being a sword-brandishing badass. What many Orihime-haters don't seem to take note of is that Orihime has her own way of coping with sadness— just as the other characters in Bleach. For example, Rukia and Ichigo are the type to bottle up their deeper, more meaningful emotions due to the fact that they're sensitive to being hurt and opening themselves up to others. Orihime, while having endured many similar tragedies as both these two, copes with her emotions by facing them head-on and attempting to use those insecurities and that sadness as a source of strength; she doesn't want to be constantly weighted down by her own negative emotions because it doesn't feel good, nor do they help anyone in any situation. In addition, Orihime is acutely aware of others emotions, and how the people around her respond to her being emotionally hurt. She's [no-longer] the type to keep making herself feel bad by constantly berating herself and actions for no reason.

Which brings me to my final point: Orihime is accused time and again by detractors for being "ov the people around her respond to her being emotionally hurt. She's [no-longer] the type to keep making herself feel bad by constantly berating herself and actions for no reason.

Which brings me to my final point: Orihime is accused time and again by detractors for being "overly-emotional" or "a cry baby", and in all honesty, in comparison to the rest of Bleach's cast she could certainly come off as a bit over-emotional. However what the fanbase doesn't seem to keep in mind (which is extremely ludicrous to me) is that Orihime is very open about her emotions whereas the majority of the rest of the cast is not. Do they feel the same things as she? Yes! But people like shinigami (soldiers trained to believe that emotions only serve to get in the way of fighting) and arrancar (soldiers forged from heartless beings) aren't exactly so ready to express themselves in such a matter. Orihime has always been the type to wear her heart on her sleeve, a trait which I find extremely refreshing in the sense that she is the only one of the main nakama to openly express the way she feels. Not only this, but in the case of Orihime being a "cry baby" more often than not, she sheds tears for the sake of others instead of herself.

People in the fanbase act as if expressing one's emotions is a bad thing, but why? Orihime is only human— of course she's going to experience feelings of sadness, of joy, or of anger and determination. What's more, I personally feel as though the act of openly expressing her heartfelt emotions in a universe where many of the series characters simply do not or even refuse to express themselves is another feat of strength in itself. Sure, Orihime may at times allow her emotions to get the better of her, but the fact that she is one of the only characters in the series to unfailingly express herself should speak to a certain sense of faith she has in everyone else— her heart is always lain bare for anyone to see.

Orihime is a strong character in her own right. She is intelligent in her own right. She is brave in her own right. And she has undergone a great deal of character development (esp. by Kubo's standards) in her own right. If you don't understand that much or fail to recognize it after over the 10 years the manga has been in print, then I suggest you stop reading Bleach (& Orihime's character) wrong.

Everyone wishes that Tite Kubo would rather kill Orihime Inoue than the other characters. Why? Because you think that she stands in the way of letting IchiRuki happen.

So please IchiHime haters. Take this to consideration. Why? Do you hate Orihime in general or you just hate IchiHime?

I get it that you get mean IchiRuki fans and mean IchiHime fans but what I've seen through the years is each person has a small flare in them knowing that when they post something mean about it, they find that sense of comfort and excitement knowing that they suceeded into getting a reaction from that person.

I'm not taking any sides here its just that I love the char, Orihime and I feel like everyone misunderstands her.

Well this is the end of my rant. Have a nice day.


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